Comscore Inc., a dominant force in media analytics, is facing a wide-ranging antitrust lawsuit in California federal court after allegedly weaponizing its control over U.S. theatrical box office data to eliminate a competing software platform developed by CinemaCloudWorks, also known as Atlas Distribution.
The suit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges Comscore engaged in a deliberate campaign of anticompetitive conduct designed to block access to essential box office data unless Atlas agreed to abandon its competing CinemaCloudWorks application. Atlas claims the media giant violated federal antitrust law, California’s Unfair Competition Law, committed false advertising, and interfered with its existing and prospective business relationships.
Comscore’s Market Power at Issue
According to the 45-page complaint, Comscore wields near-complete control over theatrical box office data in North America, tracking approximately 99% of movie screens across the U.S. and Canada. Its data stream includes input from top theater chains like AMC, Regal, and Cinemark, and it counts every major and mini-major studio, along with top independent distributors, among its clients.
Atlas, which gained notoriety in the early 2010s for releasing the Atlas Shrugged film trilogy, has licensed Comscore’s data since 2014 to use in its own reporting and planning tools. This includes its proprietary software platform CinemaCloudWorks, a direct competitor to Comscore’s Theatrical Distribution System.
